Rather than cut my rods to the normal prusa i3 lengths. I’m thinking about just leaving them 3 foot long to get a larger build space in all directions.
The only down side I see is that I may not be able to get a large enough heated build plate. Do you think a smaller silicon heating pad + aluminum plate or possibly two silicon heating pads + aluminum plate would work out ok?
The early heated beds were either individual resistors or resistor wire mounted on the bottom of an aluminum plate, and they worked pretty well for that. Something like 5 or 4mm aluminum plate should be able to spread the heat well enough, and if you look at it, no heated bed heats up perfectly even.
True and worst case would be that I fasten a smaller heated build plate and only use the extra space for things that dont absolutely require a heated build plate like pla.
Which is mostly what I will be printing any way.
Might want to jump up to m10 for rigidity.
Larger silicone heaters are available in most any size.
@Wayne_Friedt you’re right, that would be the most straightforward solution. One of the Chinese vendors (I think it was QB-BD or someone) has 30x30cm heaters.
What size are you going for anyways, @Mike_Ashcraft ?
@Thomas_Sanladerer QU-BD has them, but they’re not Chinese. They’re from Arkansas.
FYI
The one time i tried to buy from them i asked about combining shipment on a silicone heater and some Kapton tape. I did get a reply that they would do this, but after my 3 more emails from me about price and offering to pay i never had another email back from them. Sad i would of liked the heat bed. I ended up going a different route.
I’m not really shooting for any specific size. I’m going by the fact that I am lazy and dont want to cut any rods lol. so all rods will be 3 foot and I’m not sure what build volume that will give me but on the z for example that would go from the stock bar length of 405mm to 914.4mm so a bit over double the build volume for the z.
Keep in mind this is all theoretical as I may build it and have to cut it down to original size to keep it from falling in on itself.
But I figured for the extra cost of a few rods its worth it to experiment.
Why not make your own heated bed? Just order a large copper pcb, then etch it using toner transfer. Put kapton tape over it and ready!
Are you talking about just run 12v threw some pcb traces?
@Mike_Ashcraft It doesn’t necessarily scale linearly. If your goal in not cutting them is laziness, I would suggest cutting them. The other changes that will be necessary to accommodate the larger size will turn out to be more work than cutting the rods. I speak from experience.
The only other change in parts will be the belts. I’m working on a modified i8 that uses no z-frame. See these parts for more info.
@Mike_Ashcraft yes i do. Instead of the standard pcb bed you can make a larger one. Just withouth the fancy solder resist.